Rays Hang On To Take Series From Yankees

The Tampa Bay Rays used a pair of first-inning runs to help win their first series in the Bronx in more than four years, taking a 3-1 victory from the New York Yankees Thursday at Yankee Stadium.

After being shut out by Masahiro Tanaka in his last start against the Rays at Tropicana Field, Tampa Bay jumped out to an early lead Thursday, as Mallex Smith singled, stole second and scored on a double by Joey Wendle to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. Jake Bauers followed with an infield single and Tommy Pham, in his first at-bat since being activated from the disabled list, doubled in Wendle for a 2-0 advantage.

Blake Snell allowed just two hits in five innings of work, a first-inning double by Giancarlo Stanton and a third-inning single by Kyle Higashioka. He walked one and struck out six to earn his 14th win of the year.

Tampa Bay added a little insurance in the eighth, as Smith led off against David Robertson by singling. Joey Wendle sacrificed Smith to second and reached when Andujar's throw hit him in the back, which also allowed Smith to take third. Bauers then executed a textbook safety squeeze, allowing Smith to come home for a 3-0 lead.

New York finally got on the scoreboard against Ryne Stanek in the eighth, taking advantage of a throwing error by Willy Adames that prevented an inning-ending double play from being completed on a ground ball by Aaron Hicks. Stanton then doubled Hicks home with a blast off the right-field wall. Sergio Romo got Miguel Andujar to ground out to end the threat.

Romo then came out for the ninth, but allowed a pair of soft singles by Didi Gregorius and Gleyber Torres and was walk to Neil Walker to load the bases with nobody out. Manager Kevin Cash went and got his closer, bringing in Adam Kolarek to face Greg Bird and Brett Gardner. Bird popped out to Matt Duffy on the first pitch and Gardner struck out. Kolarek then struck out catcher Austim Romine to end the game, giving him his first big-league save and the Rays their first series win at Yankee Stadium since June 30-July 2, 2014.